Chavez

Bush Terrorista Del Mundo
Originally uploaded by Jane Rubio.

On August 15, Venezuelans are going to vote in a referendum on whether to kick President Hugo Chavez out of office. A vote for Sí is for him to go; a vote for No is for him to stay. The city is filled with little green Sí and red No posters. Many right on top of each other. The referendum is practically the only topic of conversation.

So what's going to happen? It's really hard to tell. The media is straight-up anti-Chavista. They are constantly insulting the president, instilling fears of a future that his primo-hermano Castro might bring, talking of his ties to the Colombian guerillas, and showing melodramatic, tear-jerking clips of mayors and other politicians who have been incarcerated. Of course, Chavez speaks in cadena everyday for hours, where the only thing on the radio is his voice. Anti-Chavistas say he spends too much money buying out certain TV channels and of course stashing away money for himself and his friends. (Like that's anything new.) But as my family (practically all anti-Chavistas) ask, If oil has been at the highest price ever, why hasn't the country seen the money?

Chavistas respond that it's the fault of the esqualidos--the rich minority who run PDVSA (the state-run oil company) and the media channels. From December 2002 to February 2003, they instigated a paro, a national strike. The country stopped producing oil. No businesses could stay open. People had to wait in line all day to fill up their cars and to get groceries. The economy crashed. The streets are now filled with buyoneros, people who had other jobs, but are now selling whatever on the street.

Many claim the rich didn't suffer during the paro. My cousins knew about the paro before it happened. So they went to Macro, the equivalent of BJ's or a Sam's Club, and stocked up. They had vats of gas in their garage to fill up their cars. And they took their money out of the country much earlier. Since it's in dollars, as the bolivar falls, they get more and more rich, as the people just get more and more poor. That's how Carmen sees it. She's the Colombian woman who's the servicio (as they call it) in my aunt's house.

My family claims that the poor people didn't really suffer during the paro because Chavez was helping them out, sending them food and gas. Gas stations in the west of Caracas were supplied, but not in the east. And either way, foreign investment has fled. The economy is BAD. There is no work. Everyone agrees with that. The point of contention is: Who's fault? The rich say Chavez. The poor say the rich elite who run the country.

According to a taxi driver, a hard-core Chavista, Chavez has done a lot of good for the country. He has started educational missions in the barrios where people of all ages can learn to read and write and get their high school diploma. He's established the Universitaria Bolivariana, which allows anyone to get a university education, without paying. In the barrios are now modulos de salud staffed by Cuban doctors. He can now see a doctor for free, and he knows people who will be flown to Cuba to have a special eye operation. Chavez set up Mercantiles--markets in the barrios that sell food at a lower cost. He's provided low-cost plane tickets so poor people can travel around the country. The anti-Chavistas say he's just buying the people. It's working.

The anti-Chavistas say the Universitarias Bolivarianas have no standards. The public hospitals don't even have cotton and syringes; people have to bring them in. And on 11 de abril, about 12 people were shot in the streets. Chavez is a murderer, they say; and by keeping all these people preso, he's committing human rights abuses. But his supporters say it's the local politicians, the esqualidos, who have kept money from the public hospitals. It's the local police that shot the people in the streets. That it's the murderers and law-breakers who have rightly received justice who are now in jail.

It seems that the race is neck and neck. If Chavez wins, the opposition is going to say it's a trampa (bogus, cross reference Florida 2000). If he loses, apparently he can just run again. International observers, including Jimmy Carter, will be there. But no matter what the referendum decides, until foreign investment returns and more jobs are created, politics will be el único tema in Caracas.

You can check out the pictures at www.homepage.mac.com/janerubio/PhotoAlbum11.html.